In the last several months, the fourth of six Navy Littoral Combat ships has suffered mission-ending power plant issues. Are more possible?

SCPO Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 10:45:45 -0400

Less than 2 days after the US Navy revealed a third mechanical breakdown, in a year, of one of its $360 million littoral combat ships, the service has announced a fourth. The USS Coronado was on its way back to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, after suffering an "engineering casualty," a Navy statement said. It is expected to reveal more about what happened after an inspection. Is this "Disaster by Design?"

Response by COL Lee Flemming made Sep 1 at 2016 11:11 AM

COL Lee Flemming — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 11:11:17 -0400

SCPO Private RallyPoint Member I know you are probably looking for an educated answer, but just wanted to say that this issue no longer seems to be isolated and quite frankly is dangerous. Recall!!!

Response by SN Greg Wright made Sep 1 at 2016 11:13 AM

SN Greg Wright — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 11:13:39 -0400

They need to scrap this program entirely, and focus on updating the Ohio's. These LCS's can do a little of everything, and nothing well. Never mind their engineering problems.

Response by SGT Jerrold Pesz made Sep 1 at 2016 1:47 PM

SGT Jerrold Pesz — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 13:47:24 -0400

It would appear that these ships are simply very expensive junk. It is bad enough that there has long been questions about their ability to survive in a combat situation but now it seems that they can't stay operational long enough to get to a combat zone.

Response by SFC George Smith made Sep 1 at 2016 3:16 PM

SFC George Smith — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 15:16:58 -0400

I thought it was 4 AFU's... the contractors need to be held responsible and made to Fix the problems out of their Pockets... and If they refuse ... Freeze and Seize all their assets ...

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Sep 2 at 2016 1:56 AM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 01:56:31 -0400

The V-22 Osprey, UH-60 Blackhawk, Bradley Fighting Vehicle, M16 rifle...do you know what these things all have in common? These are all examples of early, repeated failures of new systems that evolved into major combat systems that are employed by the US military today. These systems started off with major cost over runs and are blamed for serious loss of life through catastrophic failures during testing or early fielding due to accidents or unreliability. These faults were eventually fixed and have become staples of American military power.

Response by SCPO Frank Carson made Sep 6 at 2016 4:20 PM

SCPO Frank Carson — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 16:20:34 -0400

Nothing works perfectly, that's why we gave Senior Chiefs!

Response by Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen made Sep 6 at 2016 4:33 PM

Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen — Tue, 06 Sep 2016 16:33:24 -0400

Not going to repeat my comment from a similar post concerning the F-35, so lets just say this is all the same issue. You don't create cutting edge technological weapons systems without problems, period. Dare anyone to come up with any major weapon system that has not had problems and modifications during its first ten years or so of operations.

Response by LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow made Sep 8 at 2016 4:11 PM

LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow — Thu, 08 Sep 2016 16:11:04 -0400

The Navy just ordered a stand-down of ALL LCS class ships, because they are so unreliable...
I think the decision to have two designs was particularly bad, because that means twice the development costs and much more than that on repairs and parts, along with more vulnerability.

I really hope they don't build any more of the stealth version, and concentrate on fixing up the conventional hulled ships...

Response by LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow made Sep 22 at 2016 1:06 PM

LCDR Rabbah Rona Matlow — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 13:06:19 -0400

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/09/17/lcs-montgomery-suffers-two-engine-casualties-days-commissioning.html?ESRC=navy-a_160921.nl and now the Montgomery... what is going on with these things?

LCS Montgomery Suffers Two Engine Casualties Days after Commissioning

The USS Montgomery is the third LCS in three weeks to suffer significant engine problems, and the fifth within a 12-month span.